Intimate Integration: A History of the Sixties Scoop and the Colonization of Indigenous Kinship

by Allyson Stevenson

Privileging Indigenous voices and experiences, Intimate Integration documents the rise and fall of North American transracial adoption projects, including the Adopt Indian and Métis Project and the Indian Adoption Project. Allyson D. Stevenson argues that the integration of adopted Indian and Métis children mirrored the new direction in post-war Indian policy and welfare services. She illustrates how the removal of Indigenous children from their families and communities took on increasing political and social urgency, contributing to what we now call the "Sixties Scoop." Making profound contributions to the history of settler colonialism in Canada, Intimate Integration sheds light on the complex reasons behind persistent social inequalities in child welfare.

Genres: Nonfiction, Indigenous, History, Gender and Sexuality, Cultural

352 pages, Paperback

Published December 4, 2020

Reviews

[Nuha · Rating 2 out of 5]

Thank you to University of Toronto Press and NetGalley for the Advanced Reader's Copy!

Available August 18th 2020

Once again, this is a hard book to review. I wanted to enjoy it, I wanted to expand my knowledge of an area that I had some knowledge about in the US. Perhaps, it is a book best enjoyed in a classroom with a knowledgeable professor to guide the conversation and discussion. Alone, it felt like an almost impossible book to parse out. If you want more information on this topic, perhaps Seven Fallen Feathers by Tanya Talga will be a more accessible book.

[Jbondandrews · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important book. Even though it is called 'A History of the Sixties Scoop...', the apprehension of Indigenous and Metis children started well before the sixties and continued on well into the eighties. Even now children of Indigenous and Metis parents are still having Social Services interfere in their lives and in many cases still being taken away.

[Thom · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting history but not written in a way I can keep focused 😕

[helio · Rating 4 out of 5]

another book i read for claas. i quite enjoyed it and the way settler colonialism is explained. i just wanted poeticism which i know was not the point of the book.

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although the information in this book is extremely important, is well researched by the author, and I think still worthy of reading, there is one major issue. There are a TON of typos, grammatical errors, and incomplete sentences. This is unacceptable for an academic work published by a university, and is something I would expect from self-published fan fiction. These issues were so rampant I wanted to edit the book myself to make it more readable.

Side-note, the opening line "Saskatchewan/Kisiskâciwan is the heart of Canada's colonial enterprise" is one hell of a beginning to your book.

Edit: I re-read a good portion of this book, and I think I may have overstated how many typos and issues there were. I think the first time reading it, it just really stood out that there were a good number of issues in the technical aspect of writing. However upon re-reading a part of the book, it is not as bad as I remember (it's also possible I re-read a part that did not have as many issues).